Shimanouchi, K., Takata, K., Yamaguchi, M., Murakami, S., Ishikawa, G., Takeuchi, R., Kanai, Y., Ruike, T., Nakamura, R., Abe, Y., Sakaguchi, K. (2006). Drosophila damaged DNA binding protein 1 contributes to genome stability in somatic cells.  J. Biochem., Tokyo 139(1): 51--58.

FBrf0190881

Research paper

The damaged DNA-binding protein (DDB) complex consists of a heterodimer of p127 (DDB1) and p48 (DDB2) subunits and is believed to have a role in nucleotide excision repair (NER). We used the GAL4-UAS targeted expression system to knock down DDB1 in wing imaginal discs of Drosophila. The knock-down was achieved in transgenic flies using over-expression of inverted repeat RNA of the D-DDB1 gene [UAS-D-DDB1(650)-dsRNA]. As a consequence of RNA interference (RNAi), the fly had a shrunken wing phenotype. The wing spot test showed induced genome instability in transgenic flies with RNAi knock-down of D-DDB1 in wing imaginal discs. When Drosophila larvae with RNAi knock-down of D-DDB1 in wing imaginal discs were treated with the chemical mutagen methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), the frequency of flies with a severely shrunken wing phenotype increased compared to non-treated transgenic flies. These results suggested that DDB1 plays a role in the response to DNA damaged with MMS and in genome stability in Drosophila somatic cells.